In many applications it is desirable to drain and collect blood and other fluids from wounds and surgical sites (e.g., intra-operatively and/or post-operatively). Not only does the removal of fluids aid in healing and reduce the threat of infection, when blood is collected, it provides the hospital the opportunity to return the collected blood back to the patient. This, in turn, reduces the need to transfuse blood that is not the patient's own blood (e.g., allogeneic blood).
Prior-art systems for salvaging blood from surgical sites and wound drains often employ disposable units that include a reservoir for collecting the blood. The collected blood may then be re-infused into the patient. However, in many instances, the collected blood is not washed prior to being re-infused into the patient. Rather, the prior art systems merely pass the collected blood through a micro-aggregate blood filter to remove aggregates from the blood.